Not long ago on some blog or another I ran across the Tweenbots and they stole a little piece of my heart. First off who wouldn’t be taken in by the wide eyed optimism of these adorable little cardboard robots rolling around on the street. They look like the magical word of DJ Kid Koala’s Nufonia has come to life.

If you checkout the website you’ll learn that tweenbots are a Robot/People art project by Kacie Kinzer. The idea is to create human dependent robots and let them loose in New York with nothing but a note to tell their fellow commuters where it is that they’re trying to get to. Made out of  simple inanimate materials (cardboard with drawn on eyes and smiles) tweenbots are less like a lost ipod or virtual pet than they are a modern day courageous but helpless Wall-E. The experiment itself yielded some amazing results and over the months of testing Kacie says that no tweenbot was ever hurt or damaged on their voyages.

I love little things that show the helpfulness, caring and empathy of human beings and tweenbots exemplify an overarching good that still exists even in a giant city. If you watch the video below you can follow one tweenbot as it encounters good samaritans on its way. The interactions between the people and the little robot show how a person can almost instantly form a bond with an object and how such a simple idea can drive a meaningful interaction. I’m sure that the people who helped this little tweenbot still remember it and feel good about doing their part.

Maybe cities around the world should run pilot programs to see if tweenbots around the city can create a sense of community. Maybe if we all got used to helping out a tweenbot now and then it would make it easier to offer the same help to others. Plus they’re just so cute that seeing one on the street is bound to make anyone smile.